Dates On The Calendar
by hallow777
Summary: A collection of mini-stories based on date ideas. Written by MorgieSan and Hallow777. Date Idea 5: Pretend you've never met, then loudly try out lame pickup lines in a swanky bar. Act like they worked.
1. Keeping Heat

**MorgieSan and I stumbled across a list of date ideas on tumblr one day, and being the awesome person she is, she came up with the idea that we should write Caskett fics based on those ideas.**

**So here we go: We decided to just post on my account, because it's simpler, (I forward reviews for her chapters to her) so we will take turns writing a chapter each for this based on which ever date idea we choose.**

**Also for future reference if you happen to actually read the AN on these chapters: hallow777 = Nikki, MorgieSan = Mogie.)**

**Prepare for fluff.**

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><p><strong>Date Idea: Go to a major chain bookstore, and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favorite books<strong>**.**

**I've never been in Strand Book Store before, as a matter of fact I've never been to New York City before, so I can only provide a general layout of what Google tells me is where in the store. If I get any of those internal details wrong, like which sections are where on the floors, don't hold it against me?**

**This is obviously a future!fic, and since I can't seem to go a single story without bothering the heckles out of Nikki for something, she gets a holler too. Thanks for the book title!**

**(As you can probably tell, Mogie wrote this chapter. Even though I was supposed to go first... That didn't really happen though, stupid internet.)**

**Neither of us own Castle, or the date ideas. They were just randomly found on tumblr and the internet.**

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><p>Kate linked her gloved fingers with Rick's and slid her free hand around his bicep in an effort to get closer to him. "Where are we going?" She asked, her breath coming out in puffs.<p>

"A bookstore," he laughed, as he nuzzled his nose into the top of her wool hat.

"You're taking me to a bookstore?" She tipped her head up to look at him; her warm and fuzzy winter boots failed to give her those precious extra inches her heels normally did, and she found herself enjoying being so much shorter than him.

He kissed the tip of her nose, and just smiled at her. They swung around a knot of people listening to a group of carolers and continued on down to the corner of 12th and Broadway.

"I love New York at Christmas."

"I love you at Christmas."

"I love you all the time," she teased knocking his side with her elbow.

"I love you too," he murmured against the top of her head. He pulled her to a stop in front of Strand Book Store, and wrapped her into a tight hug. "We're going to leave notes in books."

"Really, Rick? You brought a cop along with you to vandalize property?" She quirked her eyebrow up at him.

"Post-It notes. I brought a stack of Post-It notes, and some pens. We're going to leave notes in our favorite books for whoever buys them later."

She got on her tiptoes and whispered, "That actually sounds pretty fun," before kissing him.

"Glad you think so. " He kissed her again, and released her long enough to find a hand to hold. "Lets go, before one of us freezes." He gave her a gentle tug toward the doors, and they went in and immediately went over to a staircase that would lead them to the third floor.

"It's been years since I've been up here. I think I was still in high school," Kate commented as they weaved around the throngs of people to get deeper into the Rare Book Room.

"It's intimidating. All of these old books. They smell amazing though, don't they?"

"Yeah." She smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist while they made a slow loop around the top floor. Stopping now and then to admire the books on the shelves, but never touching them. After an hour of quiet conversation between the 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the books they made their way down to the second floor.

"Over here," Kate said, pulling him to the far wall.

"Geek," he whispered into her ear before wrapping his arms around her middle as she flipped through the stacks and rows of graphic novels in front of them.

"Like you have any room to talk," she teased before running across a pristine copy of Watchmen. "I love this one!"

"How is it you manage to get hotter with every passing second?"

She pressed her head back against his shoulder and kissed his jaw. "Give me a pen and note."

He shivered as her breath tickled his neck, but somehow managed to get her what she needed from his pocket.

"Thanks." She scribbled out a quick note on the piece of paper, and after a quick look around she placed the note nearly on the inside cover and slid the book onto the shelf.

She chewed on her bottom lip as they inched their way down the busy aisle, pausing to look at the shelves and leave little notes. By the time they'd made their way back to the stairs again, they'd had to grab a tote bag for the books they wanted to buy. Halfway through the first floor they ran across a section of his books.

"Oh would you look at that. Twenty-five of my favorite books."

"Are they any good?" He teased.

"Oh they're okay, I mean they're not Patterson, or anything, but they'll do in a pinch."

He pulled her to him and growled in her ear. She laughed and kissed his cheek. "They're wonderful, Rick. You have nothing to worry about."

"Glad to know... Hey!" He groused, when he realized she had once again had her hand in his pocket without his knowing it. "You're going to have to teach me that pick-pocketing trick of yours, Kate."

She just grinned at the note she was writing. "Maybe one day, grasshopper."

"Uh-huh, just as soon as pigs sprout wings, right?"

Her response was to pull the note off the stack and stick it to his forehead. While he was reading it she quickly jotted down a note and stuck it into a copy of "Heat Wave."

He plucked the pad from her hands and wrote the words _I love you too _and stuck the note to her cheek.

She pulled the note from her cheek, and smiled. "Come on, Writer Man," she yawned, "I'm ready to go curl up on the couch with you and good book."

"Lead the way, Extraordinary Woman." He let her cut a path to the registers so they could take their own haul home.

"What's in here, an anvil?" she questioned, after taking the bag from him so she could lean back against his broad chest.

"Two, actually. His and hers." He propped his chin on top of her head and draped his arms over her shoulders.

"I see."

He reluctantly let her go when the line moved forward, and swapped her the bag for his phone. "Find us some place to eat."

Kate wasted no time in finding the number for Hell's Kitchen and making a reservation. "That okay with you?"

"Whatever you want is fine with me. Why don't you go on over to the car and get it warmed up for us?"

"And leave you here to get mauled?" she teased, and held his phone out for him.

"I think I can survive the cashiers," he shot back as he dug into his pockets for the keys.

"You better."

"I love that jealous streak of yours," he whispered before dropping his phone into his pocket and the keys into her hands.

"Just one of many things, right?" She turned her head to the side and gave him a bright smile.

"One of the many, many things," he replied honestly before dipping his head to give her a sweet kiss.

"Make it quick," she whispered before darting out of the store and across the street.

Castle made the purchases, with minor incident, because he would get the one cashier in the whole store who was a fangirl, and hurried to join Kate at the car. He popped open the back door and stowed the bag in the back; making sure he hid the four books on top into the little hideaway compartment in the SUV. "What are you looking at?" he asked coming up to stand beside her at the hood of the car.

"The snow."

He hadn't even noticed the flurries as he moved through them to get to her. "Thank you."

"For what?" She turned to look at him.

"For letting me see you this happy. For letting me make you this happy. For letting me love you."

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down for a searing kiss. "Thank you for giving me a reason to be happy."

He couldn't decide if her cheeks were red from the chill or the kiss, but he pulled away and directed her around to the side of the car. "We need to eat before you do that to me again," he explained as he held the door open for her, "Otherwise we'll never make it to dinner."

She laughed and climbed into the car.

They shared a quiet meal over pan seared Chilean sea bass, and grilled vegetables. It was peppered with flirting, joking, and stolen kisses, and topped off with banana empanadas. Rick hauled their bag up, once they got back to the loft, and they sat curled into one corner of the couch picking through their bag of treasures and reading.

One week later Castle was sneaking those four hidden books into his office, where a fifth one lay waiting in his desk drawer, to wrap for Christmas. In the four books he placed post-its with one word written on each, and in the fifth, an advance copy of his latest Nikki Heat book "Keeping Heat," he hollowed out a small space and place a single object inside of it. Once done he stacked the books in a specific order, and tied them together with ribbon. He dropped the books down into a gift bag, and placed it next to the stack of gifts by their front door to take over to her Dad's tomorrow. With a proud smile he went back down the hall to join her in bed.

"Where'd you go?" she mumbled, snuggling into his side and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I had to wrap your present, and didn't want you sneaking a peek at it," he whispered, brushing her hair aside to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Mmmmmokay." She draped her arm over his stomach and tangled her leg in his before drifting back off to sleep.

He played idly with the ends of her hair for a few minutes before joining her in slumber.

The next morning brought a rush of Christmas excitement at the loft. After presents Martha and Alexis went to the kitchen to make breakfast, Castle played with his new 'toys,' and Kate went to shower and get ready to head over to her Dad's house. Two hours later they were loading the gifts into the car, and leaving the city to go join their friends, who may as well have been family, as well as some of Kate's extended family to celebrate the holiday.

Kate gave her Dad an enthusiastic hug when they got there, and greeted a few of her cousins while Rick, Esposito, and Ryan tag unloaded the car. By the time the gift exchanges rolled around a good seat was a hot commodity, so Castle sat down on the floor with his back against the side of Jim's recliner and Kate sat in the 'V' of his legs. Jim, and one of Kate's uncles passed out all of the presents, and everyone watched the three small children in attendance tear through their gifts and cheer over each toy they got.

"What's in the water that makes all of you Beckett girls so cute?" He whispered in her ear while they watched the munchkins. She just blushed and settled back against his chest.

"So, Katie," Ayla, one of Kate's closer cousins, started, "When are you going to get married?"

"Whenever I feel like it," Kate fired back. She grinned when she felt Castle chuckling into her hair.

"Uh-huh," Ayla said, sounding suspiciously like Lanie, both of whom were shooting questioning looks at Castle.

"Be nice, Ayla," her father scolded from across the room, "she has every right to be asking you that same question."

Alexis squatted down next to her dad, and poked him in the side. When she had his attention she whispered, "When _are_ you going to ask Kate to marry you, Dad?"

"Patience, Baby Bird, patience." He gave her a wink, and watched as she rolled her eyes and walked back over to her own little pile of presents.

As the little kids wound down to their last few gifts the rest of the room started opening theirs and Castle pulled the bag full of books around from behind the recliner to place in front of Kate.

"Open this one first?" she asked, turning just enough to look at him.

"Yes, please," he answered wresting his chin on her shoulder.

She turned back and reached into the bag to pull the stack of books out. She untied the ribbon and checked out the titles. "You know I've read all of these right?"

"I know. Except for that one," he gestured to his book, "I knew these were your favorites. Seemed like a good idea."

All five books were hardback, and she took the top book, Keeping Heat, off the stack to examine. The book launch party was going to be in January, and she had read the book, but she was curious to see what the dedication would be. She flipped to that page and rather than finding what she was looking for she found the small hole he had cut into the book. She looked at him quizzically, and pulled the next book off the stack. She flipped it open to it's dedication page, and saw a bright pink post-it note, with the word 'Will' inked in his familiar scrawl. She repeated the process for each of the other three books, and found three different words on their dedication pages: 'you,' 'marry,' and 'me?' She went back to his book, and looked at the ring nestled into the pages.

"Well?" Castle whispered in her ear, "What do you say?" He punctuated the question with a kiss to the side of her neck.

She just kept staring at the ring.

Jim had watched the whole thing unfold, and his apparent interest had the rest of the room watching them too. He broke the fourth wall and urged with a gentle smile, "Kit-Kat, you need to answer him."

She picked the ring up and spun around, as well as she could in their slightly awkward sitting position, to face Castle. Wordlessly, because she couldn't make her vocal cords cooperate, she slipped the ring onto her left hand, and nodded.

"Yeah?" he asked leaning forward.

"Yes," she breathed, finally getting her voice back. "Yes." She smiled despite the tears streaming down her cheeks and closed the distance between them to place a gentle kiss on his lips. Around them everyone cheered, and they broke apart with big smiles on their faces.

"I love you, always," he told her quietly, sincerely.

"Always," she repeated before capturing his lips in another kiss, this one not nearly as gentle, but still well within the realm of appropriate for a room with little kids in it.

"Ewwww, Mommy, she's giving him cooties!" one of the little boys, James, yelled in disgust.

Kate began to chuckle against his lips, and dropped her forehead down to his shoulder. Castle tangled his hands in her hair and held her close.


	2. Upside Down

**Date Idea: Try and visit as many people as you can in one night, and turn as many things inside their apartment upside down as you can, without them noticing.**

**So I only realized that it said to visit 'as many people' and not just one person after I wrote this so... Oh well. **

**Tis I, hallow, actually writing this one this time!**

**Neither of us own Castle, or the date ideas. They were just randomly found on tumblr and the internet.**

**Your turn for a chapter Mogie!**

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><p>Once the news got out that Castle and Beckett were finally dating, Lanie insisted that they have a double date movie night at her and Esposito's new apartment.<p>

Which didn't really sound like a very good idea to Castle and Beckett anyway, but they didn't exactly have a choice in the matter.

Lanie could be very persuasive when she was determined to do something.

So now they were sitting side by side on the couch, trying to pay attention to a movie they had both already seen a hundred times, while Lanie and Esposito sat on the loveseat and made out like teenagers.

"Do you think they would even notice if we left?" Castle leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"I don't think they would even notice if we blew up the house. Come on." Beckett stood up, but Castle grabbed her hand and pulled her back down onto the couch as an idea popped into his head.

"Before we go, why don't we mess with them?" He leaned forward once again- both enjoying the invasion of personal space- and whispered the rest of his plan to her.

"Castle, no. That's... Really weird. And random, how did you even come up with that?" She thought about it for a second then added, "No wait, I don't think I want to know. They are going to hate us, you know. They just got through unpacking and getting everything in place."

"So you'll do it?"

_Clearly, I've been hanging around him too long. He's starting to rub off on me. _She thought as she found herself giving in and agreeing to go along with his plan.

Carefully, and quietly, they stood up and moved to the closest small moveable object which happened to be the lamp on the end table.

Together they picked it up and carefully flipped it upside down and set it down.

One down, no sign of acknowledgment from Esplanie.

"Wait no," Castle tugged on her arm to get her attention. "Let's go ahead and do the table too."

With a shrug, Beckett picked the lamp up and set it on the couch then helped Castle turn the table upside down too, before placing the lamp back- upside down- on it.

Still no movement- well movement other than kissing- from Esplanie.

They worked their way around the whole living room. Even managing to flip the end table next to Lanie and Esposito without them noticing.

"Okay, now this is ridiculous." Beckett commented when they had flipped everything flippable in the living room and Lanie and Esposito still hadn't come up for air.

"It is. Should we attack the bedroom, or would that be too much?"

"Too much, but let's do it anyway."

An hour later, the movie finally ended and Esplanie remembered they actually had guests over.

"Oh uh, sorry about..." Lanie trailed off as she looked over to the couch where Beckett and Castle were supposed to be, finding all the upside down objects instead.

Beckett and Castle were no where to be found.

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><p>"Sooooooo, how mad were they?" Castle asked the next morning when he brought Beckett's coffee to her.<p>

Instead of answering him, she pulled out her phone and started replaying a voice mail she had gotten when she didn't answer Lanie's calls.

"Girl! Imma smack you, AND your writer boy! Seriously? EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN. EVERYTHING GIRL. Flipping the toilet paper so it's under, really? You know how I can't stand that! Imma _so_ smack you when I see you! Just you wait, I'm going to get revenge. Oh yes I will..." The message ended with a very evil laugh that sent shivers down Castle's spine.

"I hope you locked your doors and everything before you left?" Castle thought it would be just like Lanie to get revenge by doing the same thing to Beckett's apartment.

"Yup, locked everything up tight, took the spare key out from it's hiding place, and even told my landlord not to let her in if she comes around."

"Good, that would be horrible if she got in."

Little did Castle know, when Lanie couldn't get into Beckett's apartment, she shifted her revenge intentions elsewhere.

Namely, his loft.

His loft that he had of course locked, but that didn't mean she couldn't just happen to catch Martha on her way out, and have her let her in.

"Alright boys, do your stuff. Make sure to leave the upstairs alone though, don't wanna mess with Martha and Little Castle's things."

The movers nodded then set to work doing what was probably their oddest job yet.

They weren't paid to move things from one place to another, they were paid to turn everything upside down. Including the furniture.

No one messes with Lanie. Ever.


	3. Marshmallow War

**Today's date is: Marshmallow fight! Number 37 on the list of dates that I was provided with.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Notes: Where to begin? I suddenly have a great desire for a bag of fruit flavored miniature Jet-Puffed marshmallows. Anyone else? Just me? So, Hallow is like ten million times better at this note thing than I am, but I'm trying! I might not ever look at a marshmallow the same way again, but when something leads you to Caskett is it really a bad thing? **

**Ball is in your court, Nikster!**

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><p>"How can you eat those?" Castle looked at the bag in her lap with his nose turned up.<p>

"I don't like the plain ones to just snack on," she shrugged before popping a set of orange marshmallows in her mouth.

"But... fruit? Isn't there some law against that?"

"Just how big of a nine-year-old are you exactly?" Kate asked, turning to face him.

"Marshmallows don't go with fruit, that's all I'm saying." He bit through a giant marshmallow and gave her a big grin.

Kate squinted at him and chucked a lime marshmallow at his face. She smirked when it bounced off his nose and fell harmlessly to his lap.

"Really? And you accuse me of being nine?" he shot back, gingerly picking up the offending marshmallow and flicking it back at her.

She licked the end of a strawberry one and stuck it to his forehead. "The color suits you."

He made a quick grab for her bag, and snatched it away before she could react. "Your snack privileges are hereby revoked."

"Seriously?" She reached for the bag.

"Seriously," he responded stuffing the bag behind his back.

"Immature, Castle. Really, immature." She glared at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You stuck a marshmallow to my forehead." He pointed to the sugary treat that was still hanging onto his face. "I think you are the one being immature right now."

"Poor baby," she teased, plucking the marshmallow off of his face and placing it on one of the napkins on the table.

"It's war."

"Excuse me?"

"War," he repeated before pulling the bag out and dumping half of it over her head.

"Hey!" She yelped trying to brush all of the marshmallows off of her and get away from his onslaught.

"Nope, get back here!" He caught her wrist and tugged her back toward him. She fell, unceremoniously, into his lap, where he proceeded nip at her earlobe and tickle her sides.

"Eeeeeee, stop!" She squealed struggling to get out of his embrace. Seeing as her struggles weren't helping she reached for a nearby pile of the multi-colored marshmallows and smeared them down his cheek.

He only tickled her harder in retaliation. Her laughter and shrieks echoed around her living room, and after several minutes of his assault he abruptly quit.

She gasped for air and put as much distance between them as she could. "So mean," she wheezed. She lobbed another handful of marshmallows at him and tried to hide behind her Union Jack pillow.

"I'll show you mean," he threatened, crawling toward her on the couch with the bag in his hand.

Seeing her opportunity, she lunged at the bag and took it from him. With a triumphant grin she scrambled off of the couch and ducked around it to stand in her kitchen. "Now what're you gonna do?" She reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of the treats to prepare for an attack.

"I'm not gonna do a damn thing," he responded, turning back to the movie they'd been watching.

She eyed him warily before giving in and eating part of the now sticky mass of sugar clenched in her fist, it was mostly strawberry flavored. When her guard finally dropped she crept up to him on the couch and ran her clean hand through his hair. "Truce?"

"Truce," he answered as he brought his hand up to lace his fingers through hers.

"You can clean those up. I don't _even_ want to try and clean marshmallow out of the couch."

"Nope." He never took his eyes off of the screen, and that's when she realized she'd been had. He had her down and pinned on her back before she could even register what he'd done, his left hand was in her hair, and his right was battling for dominance with her handful of marshmallow.

"Castle! Let me up. I swear, if you get marshmallow ground up into my couch I will kill you." She struggled against him to get up, but he'd pinned her perfectly. She couldn't get the leverage she needed, and cursed herself for teaching him self defense.

"I'll get it cleaned," he whispered, finally pinning her left arm above her head.

She used her right hand to grab at his ear; when she latched on, he let her go, and she brought the gooey mess in her left hand to his face. She effectively stuffed his mouth with the marshmallow, and didn't let go until after he'd swallowed them. "Not so bad are they?"

"Horrible," he lamented, leaning back over her, "but they tasted like you, so I'll let it slide."

"So cheesy," she chided, linking her arms around his neck.

"You haven't seen me do cheesy yet," he grinned, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "That can be arranged though. Just tell me where to find it."

"As if," she breathed, raising her head to nibble on his earlobe, "I'm not giving you more ammo to make a mess out of my living room with."

"We could make the mess in your bed." She shoved him off of her and he landed in the floor with an undignified, "Oomph!"

She rolled onto her side and looked down at him. "What did we just learn?"

"Beckett likes to keep her clean house clean, and if I want to play with food we do at my house."

"Good." She slithered off the couch and sat straddle of him. "What else did we learn?"

He grinned up at her. "That marshmallows are very sticky." He plucked one out of the curtain of hair hanging over him and stuck it to the side of his forgotten beer bottle on the coffee table.

Satisfied with his answer, she leaned down and gave him a kiss. "I'll let you join me in the shower if you promise to clean up your mess."

"Move woman, I have a living room to clean!" She climbed off of him with a laugh, and went to grab her trash can for him. Together they found as many of the marshmallows as they could and cleared off her coffee table of their other snack refuse.

He surveyed the damage done to her couch. "I'll fix it," he promised.

"Nothing a wet towel and spot remover won't take care of." She grabbed his hand and started walking backwards toward her bedroom. "You should be more concerned with getting the marshmallow out of my hair."

Fifteen minutes later he had her pinned against the tile wall in her shower, his lips fused to hers, and their hands knotted together above them in the spray. "I love those little fruity marshmallows," he panted, after they broke apart.

She chuckled into his shoulder and lifted her gaze back up to his. "Anything else you'd like to say?"

He made a show out of thinking about it. "No," he finally answered giving her a cheeky grin.

"Then put your mouth to good use," she demanded.

He captured her lips in another toe curling kiss, and smoothed his hand through her hair. "I love you," he whispered.

They stayed in the shower until the water actually got cold, but that did nothing to temper the heat that had been generated between the two of them. One of them had managed to turn off the water and move them across the hall to her bed, but neither one was sure who it was.

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><p>"Yo, Castle," Esposito called as Castle dropped into his seat next to Beckett's desk the next morning.<p>

"Yo," he replied, casting an amused smirk at Beckett.

"You got a pink... uh, marshmallow... on your jacket there," Esposito said gesturing to the gummy mess on the shoulder of Castle's sport coat.

Beckett tried her hardest to stifle the laugh that bubbled up, but she failed miserably and buried her face in her hands to at least muffle it.


	4. Color Me Speechless

**The date: Color pictures together—find a fun coloring book or print coloring book pages off of the Internet**

**The disclaimer: Y'all, if I owned Castle... Well, I'd let Marlowe continue to do what he is doing, because the dude does it well.**

**The note: Wow, it's been song long since I've written ANYTHING for you guys. Seriously, all the fic I've written lately has been posted only to Tumblr. o.o Sorry. I also have more fun turning these stories into proposal stories than actual dates. If you hate that, I'm sorry.**

**Note to Nikki: I took your turn, lo siento.**

**(^^I promise I will actually do the date next time! I, Nikki, am a horrible co-author, I know.)**

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><p>"What are you doing?" Rick asked, dropping onto the couch next to Kate.<p>

"I'm helping Alexis with her anatomy homework."

"With colored pencils?" Rick raised an eyebrow at her, and plucked the pencil from her hand.

"Just brushing up," she shot back, snatching the pencil back, "It's been a while since I took a science class."

"You know what, fine, If you get to color, so do I." Rick hopped off the couch and disappeared into his office, emerging ten minutes later with an entire ream of paper and a beat up shoebox.

"Ark of the Covenant, Dr. Jones?" she teased, looking up from the detailed drawing of the human digestive system.

"Better, art supplies," he grinned, dropping back onto the couch next to her, his weight causing her to bounce.

"Hey!" she admonished, "You made me scribble all over the large intestine."

"You should be coloring this anyway," he replied, dropping half of his stack of paper into her lap. "This is more fun. There's blank pages and printed off coloring sheets." The giant smile that accompanied the declaration instantly melted her resolve to study.

"I want crayons," she said, tucking her colored pencil back into the box and shuffling through the pages in front of her to find something simple to color in. She froze about halfway through the stack. "Rick?"

"Yeah?" He didn't look up from the dog he was studiously coloring in with a green crayon.

"Can I have the blue?" she asked, holding her left hand out, palm up.

Rick dug into the box on his other side and retrieved the crayon for her. He presented it to her reverently and spoke, in a way that only the child of Martha Rodgers could, "Milady."

"Thanks," she mumbled, absently accepting the crayon and pulling a blank sheet out of the stack. She quickly started outlining big bubbly block letters.

"Oh, hey, this one is yours too. I printed it off because it reminded me of you." He passed her another sheet of paper, this one blank, except for the ring taped to the middle of it.

Kate handed him the sheet she had been coloring before accepting his offering. She took in the ring, with it's thin platinum band, and modestly sized princess-cut diamond - flanked on either side by two tiny round stones, one emerald, the other sapphire. Sliding the band out from under the tape she slid it onto her finger and went back to coloring, again on a blank page. She placed it on the coffee table in front of them, and the sheet of paper from her stack that had started it all. Satisfied with the way it looked, she reached into his stack of paper and took back the sheet she had given him, laying it out with the other three.

The first sheet she placed was a crude drawing of her brand new ring, the second was covered in big brightly colored block letters. It read, "Marry me, Kate?" The final page was three letters. Y-E-S.


	5. When You Fell From Heaven

**The date: Pretend you've never met, then loudly try out lame pickup lines in a swanky bar. Act like they worked.**

**The disclaimer: If I owned Castle, Alexander would be real. And since Beckett does not have a match-making black hole in her closet, I do not own Castle.**

**The note: Soooooooo two updates from me in one day. Wow. Might have something to do with the fact that it's either write or clean my room. Obviously clawing my way through writer's block was more fun than cleaning.**

**For Mogie: I feel like you are an influence over me... Whether that is a good or bad thing has yet to be seen. This seems like something you would write though.**

**(Also I got all these pick-up lines from the internet so... You have been warned.)**

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><p>Castle sat at the bar at the Old Haunt idly twirling his drink around, not wanting to drink too much before Beckett got there.<p>

She was supposed to have been there half an hour ago but had gotten stuck doing some more paper work and was running late. Normally he would have just been there with her, creepily watching her do paperwork until she was through, but he was currently banned from the precinct for the time being. How was he supposed to know the new captain wouldn't take kindly to a friendly prank?

So now he was only able to see her after work so they had been meeting at the bar most nights.

Another ten minutes past without a sign of Beckett so Castle pulled out his phone and started playing around. Somehow he managed to stumble on a site of bad pick-up lines. Some of them were completely horrible, but oddly entertaining enough that he didn't realize a half hour had past and Beckett was finally walking in the door.

"Hey boss, your girl is here." Eric, the bartender, said to get his attention and Castle didn't bother to correct him on the 'your girl' part and instead just turned around and watched as Beckett made her way to the bar.

As she came and sat on the bar stool next to him, he couldn't stop the words from spilling out.

"Did it hurt?"

Beckett turned and looked at him strangely. "Did what hurt?"

Too late now, he already started it. "When you fell out of heaven."

She just stared at him for a few seconds before letting her eyes drift down to his glass. "How many of those did you drink before I got here?"

"Just the one. I was waiting for you, but I might have stumbled on a site of pickup lines."

"I hope that wasn't one of the good ones." She held out her hand and he put his phone in it so she could look at the site to. From off to the side they heard a man whisper to his buddy. "That line seriously worked on her? Well I'll be damned."

Beckett looked up at him, subtly glanced at the stunned men off to the side then hopped off the bar stool and grinned at Castle.

"I'm new in town, could you give me directions to your apartment?" The guys to the side of them gasped and Castle caught on to what she was doing.

"Why don't I just take you there myself?" He held out his arm for her then led her out the door, barely making it outside before they started laughing like crazy at the two men.

"Oh wow that was hilarious! You know what we should do?" Castle asked once they had both calmed down enough to speak normally.

"What?"

"Do that at a different bar where most of the customers don't know who we are and that we are already together."

"Oh, why not."

* * *

><p>Beckett walked into another bar and after a few minutes Castle walked in and looked around for a little bit before walking up to her and grabbing her hand and drawing a line on it.<p>

"What are you doing?" Beckett asked louder than was necessary to get the attention on them.

He points to the line he just drew. "This is a biiiiiig river." He stressed the word 'big' and then drew what was supposed to look like a bunny on one side of the river. "This little bunny needs to get to the other side of the river, do you know how he can get across the river?"

"Umm..." She pretended to think about it. "Can he just jump across?"

"Nope, it's too big for that. He'd fall in and get all wet."

"Are there stones in the water he could use to jump across? Or maybe a tree limb?"

"Nuh uh. Nothing in the water."

"Well then how in the world is he going to get across." She huffed in mock irritation and Castle just looked at her.

"I don't know, I just wanted to hold your hand."

"Many people will walk in and out of your life. But only lovers will leave a footprint on your heart. And you, my dear, have left one great leap on mine!"

"You be the biscuits and I'll be the gravy, let's do breakfast sometime?"

"Forget breakfast, how about a late night snack?"

"I love the way you think. My place or yours?"

"Yours." She gave him a smile and they walked out much to the shock of the bar patrons. As soon as they got out the door, everyone started talking about them in disbelief.

"Another one?" She asked.

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Castle was sitting at the bar this time and when Beckett walked in, he walked over to her.<p>

"Please don't be alarmed if a big man in a red suit picks you up and stuffs you in a bag." He said loudly, effectively getting everyone's attention.

Wearily she asked, "Why?"

"Because I asked for you for Christmas."

Beckett looked down at her feet and everyone thought she was trying to figure out how to tell him to go away or something but then she looked back up at him with an innocent and cute smile on her face.

"Can I take your picture?"

"Uh sure, but why?"

"Because I want Santa to know exactly what _I_ want for Christmas."

"Take as many pictures as you want, babe." Castle turned around and looked at all the people staring at them then turned back to her. "How about we go somewhere a little more private?"

"How about my place?"

"Sounds great."

After they left there, they headed to a bar that was well known as a Star Wars and Star Trek fan hangout.

* * *

><p>Beckett was alone at the bar when Castle walked in and after wondering around a little bit he finally took a seat next to her and got straight to the point.<p>

"You, me, here... This couldn't be any better if I had programmed the holodeck myself!"

She just looked at him funny. "Uh right. Sorry, but I'm not interested."

"Your mouth says, 'Shields up!', but your eyes say, 'A hull breach is imminent.'"

Beckett desperately tried not to laugh, knowing they had the attention of nearly the whole bar on them now.

"You are very weird, go away."

"I may look like an Ewok, but I'm all Wookie where it counts, baby."

She opened her mouth to tell him off again, but found that his eyes were fixed on her chest.

"Hey! Eyes up here buddy."

"I can't help it! My eyes are trapped in the gravitational field of your breasts!"

Before she could even think of a retort to that, he spoke again.

"Forgive my Kirk-like boldness, but you wanna go back to my mom's place and watch 'Dr. Who'?"

"Only if we can marathon Farscape too." She said, surprising all the very interested people around them.

"Of course, I'll even let you borrow a pair of my Star Trek Voyager pajamas. If you promise to be gentle with them. I don't want anything happening to them."

"I promise."

Castle grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of there, yelling "Earth woman, prepare to be probed!" right before they got out the door.

It took a good ten minutes of laughing after that one before they were ready to move on to the final bar.

* * *

><p>Castle was sitting at the bar nursing a beer when Beckett walked in. She pretended to look around, paying attention to the single looking males before finally seeming to decide on Castle.<p>

"Excuse me, do you have any raisins?" She said to Castle as she took a seat on the stool next to him, turning her body towards him.

"Huh? What? Uh no, sorry." He replied, pretending to be distracted.

"How about a date then?"

"A wha? Uh sorry, I'm already taken." The guys behind them couldn't believe that he was turning down such a beautiful woman, they were all ready to jump up and talk to the woman after she got rejected, but she wasn't going to give up so easily.

She went silent for a few minutes until the bartender brought her drink and she lifted it up to her lips, letting out a loud "Ow!" when she did.

"Are you okay?" Castle turned towards her in concern and she looked up at him with big, wide eyes.

"I have an owie on my lip, will you kiss it and make it better?"

"I don't think that's really appropriate... What do you want?"

Beckett took a deep breath. "Okay, so I came over here to ask you to dance, but I'm kind of concerned. I mean, we could hit it off really well, end up having a few drinks, next thing you know you're giving me your number because I'm too shy to ask for it, I finally get up the nerve to call and we take in a movie, have some dinner, I relax, you relax, we go out a few more times, get to know each other's friends, spend a lot of time together, then finally have get past this sexual tension and really develop this intense sex life that is truly incredible, decide our relationship is solid and stable, so we move in together for a while, then a few months later get married, I get a promotion, you get a promotion, we buy a bigger house. You really want kids, but I really want freedom, but we have a kid anyway, only to find that I am resentful, the sparks start to fade and to rekindle them we have two more lovely kids, but now I work too much to keep up with the bills, have no time for you, you're stressed and stop taking really good care of yourself, so to get past our slow sex life and my declining self-confidence I turn to an outside affair for sexual gratification. You find out because I'm careless and a lousy liar, you throw me out (justifiably so) and we have to explain to the kids why mommy and daddy are splitting up. That's just too sad. Think about the children. For God's sake, if you dance with me and we hit it off, let's just keep it sexual, because we both know where it's going."

Castle- and the rest of the bar- just stared at her.

"Well when you put it that way... I know a great way to burn off the calories in that drink you just drank."

"Your eyes are blue like the ocean and I'm lost at sea."

"Ouch! My tooth hurts because you are so sweet."

"I'm wearing Revlon colorstay lipstick, want to help me test the claim it won't kiss off?"

"It would be my pleasure."

* * *

><p>"...And that is how we spent our night last night." Beckett finished retelling the story of their barpick up adventures to Lanie and suddenly the M.E. got a curious look in her eye before she picked up her phone and hit speed dial.

"Hey Javi, I got something fun for us to do tonight..."


End file.
